The Sacred Valley - Part one.

Rather than explore all the sights around Cusco in our vans we
decided to stay put at Quinta Lala camp site and
organise the tours we wanted thru one of the many tour agencies in town. After
extensive research by Mo (and some haggling by Clive) we settled on Plaza
Tours, Calle Triunfo, just off Plaza de Armes. Phone: Cusco 249738.

What we wanted was three tours.
For the first two tours we just wanted to hire our own mini-bus and a sane
driver to take us to the sights of our choice, at our pace, without a guide and
without being taken to endless "craft markets" or expensive restaurants
en-route.

Our third tour is a two day trip to Machu Picchu by train with one
night in a hotel in Aguas Calientes. For all three tours we wanted to be picked
up at Quinta Lala and returned there in the evening. The total cost for all
three tours for six people was $1110.00 USA ($185USA each). This includes train
tickets, entrance to Machu Picchu and the hotel Gringo-Bill in
Aguas Calientes. In addition to this we each had to buy a Boleta
Touristica for about $22.00USA

Our
first mini-bus tour was to
Chinchero,
Moray,
Salineras de Maras and
Ollantaytambo. So far so good (but see
here). Our mini-bus, whilst not new was quite
adequate, our driver (Geronimo! - honest) was sane, and helpful without being
pushy. We left at 09:00 and returned at 18:30.

If you want to know about each site in detail, that is what Lonely
Planet and the Internet are for.